Transgender chic
By Tom Quiner
Eddie Redmayne plays a man who becomes a woman in “The Danish Girl”
Last year saw a breathtaking embrace of transgenderism.
The Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner story led the charge.
Now there is a move out called “The Danish Girl” which will surely advance the LGBT cause.
There is a psychological diagnosis for people who desire to be a different gender: gender dysphoria. Here’s the question: how should the condition be treated? Should these men and women be treated for dissociative disorder; or should they receive sex reassignment surgeries and hormones?
Anyone battling the condition deserves our kindness, compassion, and mercy. But the culture has quickly embraced the latter course, sex reassignment, as the proper path to take. But is it the right path?
I strongly encourage you to read a review of The Danish Girl by Walt Heyer. He offers a unique perspective, since he was born as a man who eventually underwent reassignment surgery and regretted it:
“The Danish Girl is stuffed with fluffy, gooey sentiments designed to convince “homophobic” or “transphobic” heterosexuals that the painful twists and turns of a transgender person’s life are really a healthy and courageous quest to embrace his or her true self. The film overflows with familiar LGBT talking points. At a key moment, the lead character exclaims, “I finally am who I am!”
Although the acting was well-done, the film is ultimately little more than an LGBT sales tool. It is true that transgender people are suffering. But what the film fails to address is that, all too often, transgender patients continue to suffer even after surgery, because their psychological problems remain untreated. I know from first-hand experience, as I was once a transgender woman, and I regret my sex-reassignment surgery.”
Mr. Heyer offers an insightful review based on his personal experience of having his body irreversibly “mutilated.”
He said the movie does provide an accurate portrayal of transgender origins and longings, but in a romanticized way that leaves out the reality of the consequences of reassignment surgery:
“Over time, I discovered that life as a woman could not give me peace. To my dismay, I still fluctuated between being Walt and being Laura [the female name he adopted], sometimes several times in one day. Whatever caused me to want to change my gender identity had not been solved by sex-reassignment surgery or by living as a woman. I kept searching for an answer.”
According to Mr. Heyer, reassignment surgery has a poor track record:
“A 2011 survey found that 41 percent of transgender people reported attempting suicide at least once.”
Take a few moments and read his entire review of this movie. Don’t get swept up by the PR machine of the politically-correct. The stakes are high.
Vulnerable men and women are getting hurt.
Why dissociative disorder? Walt had that, because of the particular pattern of abuse he suffered. Possibly, his psychiatrist at the time of his transition should have noticed it; but possibly Walt did not disclose the abuse.
Because of Walt’s specific circumstances, he is not qualified to comment on other people transitioning. He makes his money, now, from selling books and articles about his experience. He has a particular line to sell, which some conservatives will want to buy.
I have attempted suicide. But- would the suicide statistics be any better if we absolutely could not transition? If there was any research to support that, conservatives and hard-left radical feminists- a strange alliance- would be trumpeting it.
Thank you for the comment on “kindness, compassion and mercy”. That surely means acceptance of our transition. Trust us to make our own decisions. I knew precisely what the operation entailed before paying for it. If it is wrong for us, we will revert. But for so many of us it is simply right.
Thanks for sharing your perspective, Clare. Kindness, compassion, and mercy do not mean acceptance of transition. In this Year of Mercy in the Catholic Church, I look at Mercy as a call to see each the dignity, and thus the value, of each individual I encounter. I don’t accept those parts of the individual that evidence suggests might be destructive or even contrary to my Church’s teachings. You and I can respectfully disagree, as you have gracefully done in your comments. But disagreement doesn’t negate the call to see Christ in us all. Thanks again for sharing your unique viewpoint, and come again.
Could you see it as my invincible ignorance?
When I transitioned, I thought it possible that in five years’ time I would be trying to live male, having found transition impossible, or wrong for me. Thirteen years later, I still express myself female.
If I were to worship at your church, I would not take kindly to reproof of my way of dressing. It would drive me away, or make me more determined. If that were wrong for me, I hope that I would eventually realise that myself, and revert.
You would not find reproof in the Catholic Church, Clare, because it is considered a “hospital for sinners.” When we’re ill (in sin), that’s where we go for the cure. To be fully alive, we’re called to turn away from those things that separate us from Christ (sin) and consume the sanctifying Bread of Life that is the “medicine of immortality.” Every single person sitting next to me in the pew from week to week is broken in some way (including me). The nourishment we receive from Bread and Wine and sacred scripture is what truly sustains our lives, because it is our soul that is eternal, not our bodies. And yet our bodies are temples for Christ, and the Church teaches us to respect our bodies. You may disagree with the Catholic Church’s teachings on transgenderism, but please know that the Church loves you and would not reproof your way of dressing. Even more, Christ wants you. In fact, He awaits you with open arms. May God bless you and shine a light on your day. Thanks again for your respectful commentary on a sensitive subject.
Our bodies are also eternal Tom. That is why it matters what we do with them. Jesus sanctified our physical world by coming to live amongst us.
I would disagree with Tom on one point. It is not up to me to accept or not accept someone else’s transition. It is my job as a Christian to love and accept the person exactly as she/he is. But that doesn’t mean that I encourage or celebrate something that I believe is unhealthy and destructive. That is not merciful or compassionate.
If you were to worship at my church, I would not comment or judge you for your way of dressing. You would be accepted and loved. EVERYONE at my church is a sinner, EVERYONE has some sort of disfunction.
Nor would I celebrate it like you are some kind of a hero.
I have a family member who transitioned from female to male and I was so grateful that I was not asked to accept or celebrate the change, only to accept the person. I was told “I know what your religious beliefs are and I am not asking for your approval.” That gave me the freedom to simply accept the person. It wasn’t up to me. Do I wish this person hadn’t transitioned? Absolutely! Because I love him. Do I see him as a valuable child of God with a soul and a purpose? Absolutely!
I am glad you are happy Clare. I hope that where ever you are in life, that you are seeking a relationship with God, because it is the ONLY thing that matters. You were created to love and serve God and that is the only way to find true and lasting peace and happiness. If we submit our will to God, He will get us to where we need to go in life and in eternity.
Stay open. We all need to do the same.
Thank you for using male pronouns. I am not any kind of hero, just another human being doing my best under difficult circumstances.
I am seeking a relationship with God. I am a Quaker.
I pray for you as you travel on this journey. In fact, I have already prayed for you, Clare. Peace.
[…] wondered why I had gone on Quiner’s Diner. “If you go there, you must at some level imagine they are right.” No, I go there to […]
Have you been to see the film? It showed one person’s story, and there was nothing fluffy about it – she died as a result of the surgery. Just as you can’t take one person’s story from one film to generalise about everyone’s experience on a particular subject, you can’t take Walt’s story and use it to generalise about all trans people. Everyone’s experience is unique. That was the message I got from the film.
“Nor would I celebrate it like you are some kind of a hero.”
Is that necessary or even relevant? Trans people face *so* much discrimination and hatred in society. Why do you feel the need to heap on more negativity?
Actually Violet, here in the U.S., transgendered people are being acclaimed. Caitlyn Jenner was named “Woman of the Year.”
Discrimination is reserved primarily for Christians who are jailed, fined, and lose their businesses if they simply follow their religious beliefs in marriage and sexuality.
The media position is more mixed than that. There is a great deal of media hostility and mockery: see Walt’s maunderings everywhere he can put them.
The legal position is a necessary corrective: have you ever been assaulted for being Christian? A man tried to push me in front of a car. And marriage is not a trans issue.
As for marriage- bake the cake! That is not “participating” in a marriage! What would Jesus do?
“Actually Violet, here in the U.S., transgendered people are being acclaimed.”
A few high profile celebrities. Is that the case across society? No, of course not. Are you suggesting that a trans person should be excluded from being woman or man of the year? Is their gender the only thing they have of value? Of course not. I don’t know anything about Caitlyn Jenner, but presumably there is something about her character and achievements that led others to view her life as inspirational.
A good question, Violet. Glamour Magazine, I believe, is the group that named Ms. Jenner ‘Woman of the Year.’ Should Jenner have been excluded from such consideration? I suppose we could argue based on biology, but that isn’t why the media now acclaims the transgendered. They do it based on religion. The media embrace a religion, let’s call it Secular Humanism, that suggests man determines his own gender. On the other hands, Christianity generally, and Catholicism, specifically, believes God determines gender. Glamour Magazine can do whatever they want and follow their religion, just as I am entitled to follow mine.
“On the other hands, Christianity generally, and Catholicism, specifically, believes God determines gender.”
You can argue Catholicism does, but you certainly can’t speak for your god or the rest of Christianity. Christians believe your god creates people with intersex conditions, that suggests your god isn’t really that bothered about genitalia confirming gender.